They were unlikely comrades-in-arms: one was a self-taught, middle-aged Virginia planter in charge of a ragtag American army; the other was a teenaged French aristocrat who had wealth and sought glory. And yet, as David Clary portrays them here, the childless George Washington and the orphaned Marquis de Lafayette forged a bond between them as strong as any between father and son, seeing them through betrayals, shifting political alliances, and the trials of the Revolutionary War.

"In this enjoyable study, Clary argues that although each man was a hero of the American Revolution, it was their partnership that secured American victory. Both men were orphans, and their devotion to each other was motivated by a deep psychological bond. As the title suggests, Washington was something of a father figure to the younger Frenchman, and Lafayette gave the general 'unwavering loyalty, truly filial devotion.' But the mentoring was not wholly one-sided: Lafayette was committed to the abolition of slavery, and Clary suggests that it was because of Lafayette's influence that Washington chose to free his slaves on his wife's death. The chapters on Lafayette's role in the French Revolution and Washington's anguish over Lafayette's imprisonment make this book far broader than the usual 1776 account.... Clary has satisfyingly woven together grand military history with an intimate portrait of deep affection."—Publishers Weekly